


Angel Of Music

by Flameo_Hotman



Series: Watch Your Step [2]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Ember Island Players - Freeform, Idiots in Love, M/M, Modern AU, Mutual Pining, The Phantom of the Opera - Freeform, Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck, but he doesnt know that zuko totally wants sokka to kiss him, his truck was so ugly and awful that is is stunning and perfect, so thats just what Sokka drives, sokka drives a truck, sokka really wants to kiss zuko, you can blame misuka from dexter, zukka - Freeform, zuko and sokka are both oblivious, zuko is a theater kid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-13
Updated: 2020-08-13
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:47:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,289
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25880824
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flameo_Hotman/pseuds/Flameo_Hotman
Summary: The prequel to The Worst Birthday Ever. (Read that one first for context.)With Ozai finally behind bars, Sokka wants to do something to cheer Zuko up, and well, Zuko likes theatre and he also likes to complain about bad acting, so taking him to see the ember island play company's edition of The Phantom of the Opera is a no brainer. Only one problem. Sokka can't stop thinking about how pretty and kissable his friend looks. Maybe its more than a crush.
Relationships: Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Series: Watch Your Step [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1872544
Comments: 20
Kudos: 135





	Angel Of Music

**Author's Note:**

  * For [FriendsOfKyoshi](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=FriendsOfKyoshi).



> When I hit 1K followers on Tumblr I did a raffle and the winner (FriendsOfKyoshi) was given the option between fanart and fanfiction. As luck would have it, the fic they asked me to write ended up working perfectly as a prequel to The Worst Birthday Ever. So yahl have her to thank for what is probably one of my personal favorite fics by me.

Ozai was in jail, and Zuko was finally safe from that monster.

And while Sokka may not have been able to be there during the actual trial, he wanted to do something to celebrate and get Zuko’s mind off the repressed trauma that the ordeal had brought back to the surface. The trail had taken forever, years actually, to even make happen, what with all of the resources that Ozai had. And then when the trial finally started it had taken months before the jury had declared the monster guilty of not just assault, but two counts of murder and one count of attempted murder.

But the look on Zuko’s face when he presented him with tickets for a local showing of The Phantom of the Opera had been perfect.

The surprise, the joy, and that smile warmed Sokka’s heart.

Sokka wanted to kiss that beautiful smile and imprint the memory of how those lips felt against his own forever, but he didn’t. Not when he knew that Zuko was still hurting from the trail and the horrible things that Ozai had shouted at him, as an officer had to drag the monster from the courtroom.

Instead, Sokka pulled Zuko into his arms to hug him, and the way that Zuko melted into his arms, totally at peace, was more than Sokka could have ever asked.

But then Zuko pulled away and looked down at the tickets again, and his face soured.

“Sokka, the Ember Island Play Company? Really? They are-” Zuko began, but Sokka stopped him with a wave of his hands. 

He’d laughed, “Like you aren’t secretly looking forward to letting us know everything they do wrong. I know that’s one of your favorite parts of this kind of stuff. I mean, how many times have you watched  _ Plan Nine From Outerspace _ ?”

“That’s a trash movie so bad that the badness is practically art. Sokka, these people are horrible actors and will ruin the play,” Zuko groaned, with a brief flicker of a smile he schooled from his face. But Sokka had seen it and knew he’d been right.

Zuko was secretly looking forward to tearing apart everything wrong that the players did wrong in their rendition. Sokka had ordered their tickets with this in mind. He didn’t want their group getting kicked out partway through because someone overheard Zuko and his running commentary on the production.

Sokka was looking forward to that commentary.

“So it’s settled? We are going to see The Phantom of the Opera tomorrow night, and you are going to tell me everything that they get wrong,” Sokka declared with a big grin.

Zuko rolled his eyes and sighed, “Just make sure that you wear something nice. It’s an opera, even if the performers are idiots.”

And then Zuko led Sokka to the porch to shoo him away for the night, but he hesitated in the doorway before leaning on it, with his shoulder and hip, trying to look casual, and said, “So… Are you going to be picking me up tomorrow for it? Or…”

“I’ll pick you up, darling,” Sokka answered without thinking. If Zuko cheeks seemed to go pink, Sokka chalked it up to the chilly night air. He and Zuko were just friends. Zuko didn’t feel the same way Sokka did.

The next night, Sokka swung by in his truck.

Suki was picking up Toph and his sister, while Aang took a bus to get to the theatre. So it was just going to be him and Zuko in the truck. Sure it felt like he was picking Zuko up for a date, but this wasn’t a date. No matter how much Sokka wished that it was.

But tonight was about Zuko and Sokka didn’t want to ruin the friendship they had been building. So if that meant pinning in silence, then that was what he was going to do. That didn’t stop Sokka from thinking that Zuko looked beautiful when he’d stepped out from his house dressed up for the evening.

Who knew having your standoffish classmate showing up on your doorstep and passing out after asking if your dad was a cop could lead to one’s biggest crush ever.

Sokka certainly hadn’t known.

Zuko knocked on the door of Sokka’s truck, snapping him out of his thoughts, and Sokka unlocked it. Following that blunder, Zuko hopped into the truck.

“You ready for the worst version of The Phantom of the Opera you’ve ever seen?” Sokka asked with a big goofy smile on his face.

Zuko groaned while rolling his eyes, “Yeah, I guess. But next time we are going to see a good play company.”

“It’s a date!” Sokka answered, before shifting the truck into reverse and backing out of Iroh’s driveway. Sokka really did wish it would be a date, but Zuko just didn’t like him like that. Zuko wasn’t even gay.

Or at least as far as Sokka knew.

If Sokka hadn’t been so focused on the road, he would have noticed the sudden blush that had lit up Zuko’s face. He didn’t miss the awkward laugh Zuko gave.

The sound of Zuko laughing was always beautiful to Sokka. Even before he had realized he might have a crush on Zuko, he had fallen in love with that rare and cute laugh. And Zuko deserved to be happy. Not just because of all the bad things that had happened to him, but because he was Zuko. And that alone was reason enough that his life should find itself filled with tremendous and incredible things that made him smile.

It was only a fifteen-minute drive to the opera house that the hopefully terrible rendition of one of Zuko’s favorite plays would find itself turned into a mockery of itself. And while most people might not enjoy factually terrible things, Sokka understood completely why Zuko loved that kind of thing.

There was a certain sense of absurdity in the awfulness of something. And pointing that out was way too much fun.

Sokka realized that when he got to the venue, he should have left to pick up Zuko a hell of a lot earlier than he had because parking was already a nightmare.

“Seriously? These people are horrible. And from the parking, you would think it was a sold-out show!” He groaned and gave up on finding any parking close to the theatre.

Zuko snorted and replied, “Sokka, it is Valentine’s Day, and way too many people like to call The Phantom of the Opera a romance. Of course, parking is going to be awful. What did you expect?”

“Okay, yeah you might have a point, but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to bitch about it,” Sokka shot back playfully, before heading off to the parking garage he knew was several blocks away from the opera house.

Thankfully there was parking to be found there, and they took the elevator down from the ninth floor and began their walk, hoping that they wouldn’t end up being too late to get into the opera before the doors were closed until intermission hit.

“Hey, Sokka…” Zuko murmured, “Thank you for taking me to see this. My therapist says I’ve been needing to get out of the house more and well…”

“You really like theatre, and you are looking forward to roasting these jokers?” Sokka finished with a wide grin as he threw an arm around Zuko’s shoulders.

Zuko gave a shy smile and answered, “Exactly.”

“So, how has Dr. Yugoda been working out for you?” Sokka asked curiously.

After his mom had died, he and his family had gone to her for grief counseling. She had helped them through it, and they had come out of the whole ordeal a lot stronger.

Zuko shrugged and said, “I like her well enough, but it has been tough opening up about what went on during my childhood. I think she has been helping me through it.”

“Good, as long as she is a good fit. That’s what matters, right?”

Zuko gave a nod, and they kept walking.

At least until they hit a crosswalk where traffic had come to a standstill, caused by two sets of drivers screamed profanities at each other about who actually had the right of way.  _ Yeah, this was going to take some time.  _ But Sokka never turned down spending extra time with Zuko.

Not when being near Zuko gave him butterflies in his stomach and made his whole world seem just a little brighter.

Zuko, for his part, groaned and pressed his head into Sokka’s neck, complaining, “And that right there is why I don’t ever want to drive. Stupid idiots like that would make me want to crash my car into a light pole.”

“Well, that’s what you have me for!” Sokka cheered, face going pink at Zuko’s warm breath on his neck. “I’m your personal chauffeur, happy to drive you wherever you need.”

Right then, Sokka's phone started blaring out Katara’s ringtone, and he answered it, still savoring the weight of Zuko pressed against his side, “Sup?”

“Sokka, where are you? The opera is about to start, and you still aren’t here.” Katara groaned.

“We hit some traffic. We might be a little late,” Sokka answered. “Just pick up your tickets from the ticket guy and head on in without us.”

Katara sighed, “Fine, but you are going to miss the first half. They are going to be closing the door in a few minutes.”

Then she hung up on him.

“I hate being late,” Zuko groaned, finally pulling his head away from Sokka’s neck.

Sokka would never admit it, unless under the duress of Toph, but he had liked standing with Zuko like that.

He shrugged, “Hey, the show is going to suck anyway, so missing the first half won’t be that big of a loss.”

“I am going to be insufferable about this,” Zuko growled cutely.

Sokka laughed, “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

By the time they had made it to the theatre, the show had already begun, so the two of them picked up their tickets and found a comfortable bench away from the other latecomers to camp out on until intermission.

And despite Zuko’s threat to annoy him, Zuko instead leaned against Sokka and sighed, “I’m tired…”

“Mentally or physically?”

Zuko was silent for a moment before he answered, “Both… I’m glad that the trial is finally over and that Father is in jail, but it took so long to make it happen… Part of me still thinks that I’m going to wake up, and that nightmare will still be ongoing. Or that it had all just been a nightmare, and I’ll still be in that house.”

“Well, if that ever ends up being the case, when you wake up, come find me. I’ll keep you safe,” Soka promised as he leaned his head onto Zuko’s. “And if this isn’t a dream, then I’ll still keep you safe.”

“I don’t know why you waste your time with me… But thank you,” Zuko sighed, and Sokka’s arm shifted to grip him around the waist.

Sokka was silent for a moment before answering, “It’s not wasting my time if I want to.”

The idea that Ozai had managed to warp Zuko’s perception of himself so severely, that Zuko thought Sokka wanting to spend time with and protect him was somehow a waste of Sokka’s time or hardship of some sort was heartbreaking.

The fact that Zuko chose not to reply to Sokka’s response told a lot.

“If you’re tired, you can take a nap. I can wake you up when intermission hits,” Sokka supplied, and Zuko nodded before leaning even further into Sokka’s side.

A few minutes passed before Zuko’s breathing grew slow and soft with sleep, and Sokka shifted his sleeping friend to be lying on the bench with his head in Sokka’s lap. Zuko looked almost peaceful as he slept.

And sue him if he didn’t snap a quick picture to set as Zuko’s contact photo.

When intermission finally came, Sokka was reluctant to wake Zuko up. Especially when he knew that Zuko’s sleep habits were terrible already, but he knew that Zuko would be pissed if he missed the second half of the show, just so Sokka could keep running his fingers through Zuko’s soft, dark hair.

His hair had been pretty long before Ozai had put Zuko in the hospital with third-degree burns, and it was growing out nicely now nearly as long as it had been before this whole mess.

Sokka sighed and gently shook Zuko’s shoulder to nudge him awake.

“Intermission time, let’s go meet up with the gang, sleeping beauty.”

Zuko groaned lightly, before stretching like a cat and sitting up. He looked cute with sleep mushed hair stuck to the side of his face. Sokka couldn’t help but reach out and fix it for him, knowing Zuko hated for his hair to look anything less than perfect when out in public.

There was a weird little flutter in his stomach that he had grown used to by this point, as he glanced down at Zuko’s lips.

Lips Sokka would give almost  _ anything _ to kiss. Anything but Zuko’s trust.

Sokka dropped his hand from Zuko’s face and then stood up from the bench, saying, “Let’s go find the others.”

Sokka didn’t want to make Zuko uncomfortable, and they really did need to find their friends before intermission was over. They hadn’t all been able to get seats near each other, so this might be their only chance to talk before the show was over.

Zuko groaned but got up and followed Sokka into the central area of the lobby, where they found their friends waiting for them.

Suki was standing and talking to Mai and Ty Lee. The two were Zuko’s friends, but Sokka hadn’t gotten much of a chance to get to know them aside from when he had very briefly dated Ty Lee before she’d left him for Mai.

Sokka hadn’t been upset over it. Sure, breakups were never fun, but he’d started setting his eyes on Zuko already by that point. So he had been thinking about breaking up with her anyway.

If the way the three women were talking, Sokka figured it wouldn’t be long before they were a polyamorous couple. He was happy for them. Suki deserved amazing partners who loved her.

Toph was the first to notice his and Zuko’s approach. Her ability to do that would forever be a mystery to Sokka, but it was a welcome one nonetheless.

“Sparky and Snoozles are finally here!” She belted before striding over to punch Sokka in the arm. Zuko, Toph did not hit. Instead, she latched onto his arm like a koala bear. She liked Zuko best out of their group, so that made enough sense.

That didn’t mean she never punched Zuko in the arm. She just hit him less than she did everyone else.

“Did we miss anything good?” Zuko asked.

Katara shrugged and answered, “Not really. The broadway version you sent me a download link for is a lot better, to be honest.”

“So, what did you guys do while waiting for intermission?” Aang asked excitedly.

Sokka chuckled and replied, “Zuko took a nap, and I scrolled Tumblr. So not much.”

Zuko glared at Sokka, but the man pretended not to notice how cute it made Zuko look. The rest of their conversation during the intermission didn’t end up being anything memorable beyond the fact it was light-hearted and exactly what Zuko needed right now.

Finally, it came time for them to find their seats and wait for the show to start back up, so they said their brief farewells to their friends and headed inside to sit down.

The very moment that the curtains went up, Zuko started in on tearing the show apart.

“That is not where the intermission is supposed to be.”

The statement was so sudden that it had taken Sokka by surprise and he looked over at Zuko who was still going, but all Sokka could see was the single most beautiful, passion-filled person he had ever meet and-

Oh…

Oh no.

He didn’t have a crush on Zuko.

Sokka was in love with Zuko.

And for the rest of the evening, Sokka couldn’t tear his eyes away from Zuko’s face. He only knew what was happening on stage by Zuko’s commentary. And when Zuko looked over at him smiling with a manic gleam of pure joy in his eyes, Sokka knew he was lost.

There was no coming back from this.

And in that moment, Sokka knew he would do anything Zuko asked of him because Zuko had utterly stolen his heart.

It took everything he had in him not to pull Zuko into his lap and kiss him senseless.

He didn’t know how he must be looking at Zuko. Whatever look was on his face made Zuko suddenly go cherry red, making him look adorably flustered before Zuko sharply turned his head back towards the stage and stammered about something that the actors were doing.

Sure, Sokka had always thought Zuko was pretty, but until this night, right here, right now, he had never realized just how beautiful Zuko was. Sokka hadn’t thought about how stunning his friend’s golden yellow eyes were. How soft and perfect Zuko’s long dark brown, nearly black hair was. The flawlessly beautiful, almost ghostly pale skin that Sokka suddenly wanted to see a lot more of.

Zuko was unfairly attractive, and Sokka wanted to pay homage to whatever god had created his friend.

Sokka wanted to wake up every morning with Zuko cuddled up next to him in bed.

He wanted to see Zuko completely open and content, lazy with happiness.

Sokka wanted to make Zuko pancakes from scratch with a bacon and strawberry smiley face.

More than anything, Sokka wanted to see Zuko made whole and healed from the darkness of his upbringing.

So when their evening came to a close and Sokka was dropping Zuko back off at Iroh’s place, he asked, “Hey, wanna do a shitty movie night? I don’t think I’m ready to go home yet.”

“Sure, why not?” Zuko answered with a smile that burned itself into Sokka’s mind with its brilliance and beauty.

“Cool.”

Sokka sat there eyes locked with dazzling gold.

Zuko shifted awkwardly in his seat, before saying, “Uh… So we should probably get out of your truck and go inside?”

“Yeah, we should,” Sokka answered dumbly without moving from his seat.

His eyes flickered down to Zuko’s lips, and he swallowed.

_ Tonight is about Zuko. Don’t you dare ruin it. _

Sokka tore his eyes away from those perfect kissable lips and unbuckled before getting out of the truck and rounding to the other side to open the door for Zuko.

Zuko sat there staring at Sokka, almost dumbfounded. But a moment later, he unbuckled and hopped out of the truck to follow Sokka into his house for their impromptu terrible movie night.

Iroh kept himself suspiciously scarce from the living room while they stuffed their faces with snacks, and Sokka had to wonder if the man knew the thoughts running through his head. It was entirely possible that Iroh somehow did, and that his absence was some sort of sign of approval.

All Sokka did know for sure was that at some point in the night, the two of them fell asleep on the couch because the following morning, he woke up to the sound of someone bustling around in the kitchen and found Zuko curled up on his chest snoring into his ear.

Sokka had never heard anything more beautiful in his life.


End file.
